That Savage Beast Within
by Sir Eddy
Summary: I am the Hunter and the Hunted, the Salvation and Damnation. I am both the Man and the Beast, and I am whole.


_I am the Hunter._

The rain masked my footsteps, a decent fall that echoed nicely through the claustrophobic alleys and streets of Yharnam. It masked my approach from my prey, the rabble lost to their blood-lust. They too hunted beasts, but to call it a "hunt" is a travesty to the word. They walk these streets with acquired farming tools; pitchforks, scythes, sickles, though some did come equipped with cleavers they grabbed from a butcher's shop. Some were fortunate enough to actually have real weapons, wherever they may have nabbed them from. More than likely hand-me-down swords and knives. Torches lit their path, but also revealed the beastial features that they now bear.

Such is the folly of these "hunters" taking up arms in this endeavor. They only know of hunting the beast, and in this blood-lust they find themselves falling to the very scourge they want to cure. The poor fools, as now I am left to clean up the mess and to try to protect Yharnam.

 _I am the Salvation._

They stood before a beast chained and tied to a cross, beneath the dead creature a fire burned. They did not chant, they did not let loose cries of victories, they simply watched. Blind to my approach. I walked down the street calmly, weapon on my right hand, my pistol loaded and ready in my left.

Two that were somewhat separated from the herd noticed me first, and turned to look at me. Their greenish-yellow eyes locked onto me, their fur covered faces turning into a snarl as they trudged towards me. Their limbs were mismatched in length, as these people were still part way into the turn into beasts. They would never make it there completely.

The first one lunged towards me, clumsily swinging with a meat cleaver. It was a simple effort to step towards the outside of the swinging arm, bringing me very close to the right side of the creature as he stepped past it. As I quickly moved, I lifted my right arm and let the momentum of my movement and my body weight drag the claws of the weapon across it's exposed side. It howled in pain, reeling away from me due to the blow.

The second one was already attempting to swing at me, but a shot from my pistol staggered it back as well. I used the opening to dash in, and with swift brutality I slammed my hand deep into its torso. Stepping backwards with my left foot, I used the spin to tear my hand free, ripping whatever viscera my hand and clawed weapon caught from the gaping wound. The blood and organs splattered to the ground, which was quickly flowing towards one of the sewer drains.

With my twisting step back, I was already facing the first target, which had just recovered from the blow I had delivered to it. Its recovery proved pointless though as I dashed in once again, and with two rapid, vicious slashes of my weapons, the hybrid creature collapsed backwards. It's torso and abdomen having been rendered into unrecognizable fillets.

 _I am the Man._

My head turned now to see the approaching crowd, dexterously reloading my pistol as I did so. Despite the rain against me, it seemed as if the blood spray that was on me was stuck there, already permanently stained to my clothing and skin. That was fine though, my face etching into a smile as I sprinted straight towards the crowd of hybrids.

The wet stones allowed me to be a bit fancy, using the slick material to drop to my knees and slide beneath a thrusting pitchfork to ram my clawed weapon right into the groin of the attacker. It let loose a pain cry that sounded like a mix of both dog and man, a sign of its fall. I was quick to rip my weapon free, from it, allowing the wound I had made to drain the blood held within the body. My gun roared, staggering another approaching target to stop it from assailing me while I finished the one I had just brutalized. Several slashes to its back brought it down.

I could feel it now though, the very intoxication that created these monsters flooding my mind. My mouth was etched in a smile, I could feel the tightness of the muscles as I moved to engage the next target, signalling to me my subconscious enjoyment for these hunts.

 _I am the Hunted._

Blood sprayed, organs fell from wounds, creatures disguised as men howled into the night from the pain of their injuries. Even my own body suffered, the injuries along my body screaming for me to stop and run, to flea and mend my pain. My heart pounded though, and my mind had me driving forwards. Each strike I landed I could feel repair my own ravaged form.

I danced around the edges of the crowd, always making sure to not be surrounded even as I dove in to mutilate these mockeries of both man and beast. Oh this savagery, it was addicting. This brutality, it was delicious. Each strike, each blow, to them or to me, there was no way I could describe the euphoria I was beginning to feel from it. I knew what this was though, it my own beast wanting to break free.

 _I am the Damnation._

I stood there, the dead lying all around me. None could tell me what they were now, and none would know. What severed limbs belonged to who was hard to determine, exposed and broken bones betraying just what they had been before my attack. It was good this night was accompanied by such rainfall, or else this small plaza may not have lost the blood stains that coated it for a long time.

I took a deep breath, my body shuddering as my high was beginning to diminish. Unfortunate, I felt, as I needed a proper release less I become drunk off the blood. Oh how sweet fate could be to me as I heard the sound of a heavy foot step on the pulped bowels of one of my prey.

My head turned to see the source, and my smile grew as my eyes came to lock with the glare of a true and proper beast. Its ragged fur was matted and weighed down with blood and water alike. The claws it had were caked with blood, mashed viscera oozing up between its toes as the weight crushed the organs beneath it, and its teeth and the edges of its mouth were caked with blood as well. This was what I truly desired. With a crack to my neck, I turned to fully face the creature that hissed at me; centering my form with the creature, I let a deep breath of air fill my lungs before I raised my head to the moon that hung above and let loose my own howl.

The beastly claw on my right hand seemed to howl with me, despite them only being the claws of a slaughtered monster. My skin turned to a dark greyish-brown, my hair grew long and just as disheveled as the creature before me. My left hand, which had holstered the pistol already, cracked and shifted, creating a cacophony of changing bone and muscle as my hand grew almost quadruple in size, bearing its own claws on the end of it. The blood from my butchery still clung to the newly grown fur on the arm. Likewise, those same life giving fluids clung to the hair atop my head. My jaw, though somewhat elongated, did not match the size of the beast in front of me. Sharp teeth still emerged slightly from beneath my lips, however.

Our matching eyes, of hatred, rage, blood-lust, and savagery locked with one another. My body rose and feel with each breath as we stood there, watching and waiting for the other to make that first move.

 _I am the Beast._

I was first, dashing straight towards it with my claws out to the side. It met my furious charge and howl with one of its own, glistening teeth separating to try and clamp down on me. I moved to the side, avoiding the bite and then doing the same to avoid a swipe from a claw. I returned the attack, rapidly and hatefully slashing at the hide of the beast; my claws tearing away chunks with each blow.

The beast would not be outdone, and it turned fast to try and catch me with a backhanded swing. I easily stepped back to avoid the blow, but failed to avoid the follow up swing of its other claw, the beast using the spinning movement it had already made to line up the second attack.

My own torso was shredded by the razor sharp weapons of the beast. The drag of the claws through my flesh pulled me to the side, staggering me and setting me up for the creature to then lunge forwards and clamp it's jaw down on my left arm.

The pain was immense, and it did everything in its power to try and tear my arm from my body. The foolish thing thought it had the advantage, but this only put me in range of it. It also meant that it was an easy target for me. I wasn't sure if I was laughing or roaring at it, but either way I brought up my free limb, quickly bringing the claw down into the top of its head. I aimed one of the claws at an eye, and the soft organ provided little resistance as my weapon sunk deep into its head.

The claw sunk so deep, I could feel my own claw actually pierce my arm still within its maw. The beast however was the one who suffered the most, as it screeched and attempted to jump away from my attack. It released my left arm as it tried to back away from me, but with my right claw embedded in its head and through its mouth, I was going with it. Now was my chance to finish it, and with a rough tug I ripped my left arm free from my own claw, allowing me to then bring the claws towards the other eye of the beast.

With both claws sunk into its face, it screeched and thrashed to try and escape me, blindly trying to slash at me with its own claws. I was too close though, so its arms could not bend in enough to truly tear away at me despite a few occasional nicks to my legs. I rode the bucking and swinging of the beast's head, keeping my own claws sunk deeply and allowing the creature to injure itself with its own thrashing.

I finally brought it down by ripping my left hand free, the wound that had riddled my arm seeming to fade away as the creature's spilled blood mended my body, and then stabbing it further back along the head where its spine would be. Of course, the muscle and bone here was much sturdier, and my claws only sunk an inch or two in at first. I used the leverage of my grip on the head with my right hand to drive my claws even deeper to the important bits within.

My claws made contact with a hard surface, which I knew to be the bones shielding the nerves I was aiming for, and with one last thrust, I drove my left arm to the elbow into the beast. Once my claws had pierced the bones, the resistance against them dropped considerably and i found my claws piercing all the way through until the tips pierced the skin on the other side of the beast.

A few more thrashes from the creature was all it could muster before it collapsed with a final whimper of pain, all of its movement ceasing. With it finally ending its movements, I was able to easily tear free both of my hands from it, struggling slightly with how deep I had driven my left hand into it. Stepping back from the beast, I took a few breaths before I lifted my face once more to the sky above, closing my eyes and releasing the hold my beastial side had on me.

My left hand shifted back to its original state, with my head and skin doing the same. My hair also returned to a normal length and thickness, bringing me back to my normal , and natural, human appearance. Opening my eyes, my smile returned as I looked to the mutilated corpse of the beast I had just slain. A quick jab to my leg with a blood vial saw whatever wounds I had left being mended by the healing liquid.

Flexing my neck, I began my walk down the blood soaked streets, leaving the still falling rain to wash away the coating of red that was all over my form as I looked to find my next prey to unleash my inner beast upon and to satisfy its urges, less it truly take over me.

 _And I am Whole._


End file.
